


Tonight You Belong to Me

by dingle



Category: Time Squad
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Music, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-30
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-08-18 17:31:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8170037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dingle/pseuds/dingle
Summary: A cute little domestic fic with no plot in particular. I just really like this scene in The Jerk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqtmXnQZ6Qk





	

It was just another day on the satellite. Buck was lounging on the couch, watching nothing in particular on the television. Otto was splayed out on the carpet, happily coloring in an activity book that the Time Squad officers had bought him the day before. No missions were called in today, and everybody was off doing their own things.  
Buck was bored. There was no getting around it. No big games were on, reality TV irritated him, and the cartoons were all reruns. Otto was busy and Larry wasn't in the room to terrorize.  
He huffed and let his head sit on the armrest. He could get food, but he was too lazy to walk to the kitchen (or even call for Larry to bring him something, for that matter). He had just cleaned his phasers, so the shooting range was out of the question. The officer crossed his arms and frowned as he realized he wouldn't even be able to take a satisfying nap at that time of day.  
Tuddrussel let his eyes wander the room as he laid on the sofa. Looking from object to object, he sat until his eye was caught by an ukulele resting on the end table.

Making music was typically complicated to Tuddrussel, who liked things nice and simple. He wrecked any drum he touched, could produce nothing but squeaks from brass, and couldn't read sheet music if his life depended on it. Violins and flutes were far too "foo-foo" for his tastes. His parents on the farm had once tried to coax him to play an acoustic guitar, but it ended in nothing but splinters and frustration.  
Yet through some dumb luck, Buck found the one instrument he could understand, and it happened to be the dinkiest little four-stringed one there was. He learned it in basic training when he shared a room with other prospective officers. They showed him the simple chord diagrams, sang a couple songs, and let him twang at it. Buck soon found that ukulele music was the one thing he could purposefully create rather than inadvertently destroy. He grew to love it, and it was a nice parting gift when he graduated to become an official Time Squad officer.  
The ukulele meant nothing but good times and fond memories to Buck, all of which he could use a nice dose of now. The officer stretched, let out a tremendous yawn, and trodded over to the end table. He grabbed the ukulele and made his way back to the couch, plopping himself down as he dusted off the fretboard.  
" _My dog has fleas_ ," he thought as he ran his fingers down each individual string. He plucked and fiddled with the tuners until he was satisfied with the tone, then moved through chords and fingerpickings while he watched the television.  
Otto smiled and listened as he continued to scribble in the blue on George Washington's coat.

Larry was in his own room, relaxing on his bed with a copy of _A Perfect Life_. The satellite was clean, dinner was slow-cooking, and the boys were finally sitting quietly. He finally had some downtime and was intent to make the most of it. The robot read carefully, absorbing the story page by page. However, when he heard the soft melody of the ukulele, he gently let the book close.  
Tuddrussel could be annoying in a million ways, but his ukulele always relaxed Larry. He rarely ever heard the officer play, and he never wanted to miss the spectacle of him actually being creative for once. He set the book down, climbed out of bed, and quietly walked out to the hall. He leaned on the wall outside of the living room and listened.  
There was something incredibly familiar about the tune Buck was playing now. Larry knew he had heard it before, but he couldn't remember where. It was a happy but haunting tune, and the ukulele served it well.

Otto looked up from his finished coloring page to Buck as he strummed. "Hey, Tuddrussel, do any of these songs have words?"  
The officer paused. "Yeah. In fact this one right here's a duet." He saw the inquisitive look that Otto offered him and rubbed his neck. "Uh, look, kid... I ain't exactly the best at singin'."  
"Aww, come on, Tuddrussel! At least teach me the words!"  
"I dunno..." Buck shrugged.  
Otto gave the cop his biggest, cutest puppydog eyes. "Pleeeeease?"  
Tuddrussel tried to look his ward down stoicly, but gave in almost instantly. "Fine, fine, alright! I'll do it real quick. No laughin' or nothing."  
"Tuddrussel, you know I wouldn't." Otto clambered up the couch next to the man.  
"Alright, so this song has a high part and a low part. I'll sing the low part so you don't hafta worry about that." Otto nodded and paid close attention. "Now, I'll play your part real slow so you can learn it. It goes like this..."  
Buck played the intro, albeit more slowly than usual. He cleared his throat and nervously began to sing.  
" _I know you belong_  
_to somebody new_  
 _but tonight you belong to me._ "

The recognition slowly crept upon Larry as he realized that he hadn't heard the song in years. It was from many centuries ago, forgotten a great number of times and revived many more through remixes and features in popular media. He'd heard various versions of the tune, but his favorite rendition was from a vintage human comedy movie that, for whatever reason, he actually found quite funny.  
The longing in the lyrics tugged at the gears inside his chest. He empathized greatly with the song-- the story of yearning for someone you couldn't have for too long was one that repeated often in Larry's lifetime. Not to mention that he enjoyed the chord progression and more technical aspects of the song. He let his mouth form into a smile as he heard Otto squeak out the song, mimicking Tuddrussel as best he could. " _He's not all that bad of a singer, is he?_ " thought Larry.

"Okay, this part's a little different, Otto. We sing the same thing so just follow my lead." Otto watched intently as Tuddrussel began the next part.  
" _Way down by the stream_  
_how sweet it would seem_  
 _once more just to dream_  
 _in the moonlight, my honey..._ "

Larry got an idea and quickly retreated into his room.

The duo practiced a few more times, and both of them gained more and more confidence with every verse they sung. "Okay, Tuddrussel. I think I've got it down." Otto clearly got excited. "Can we do it for real now?"  
Tuddrussel tusseled the boy's hair. "Sure thing, little buddy. Here goes."  
He played the intro, this time at full speed, and Otto began to sing. Buck jumped in with his part of the duet, guiding Otto with low tones and smooth strumming. The two enjoyed themselves greatly. By the time they reached the last verse they had to keep themselves from giggling.  
" _I know (I know) with the dawn_  
_that you will be gone_  
 _but tonight you belong to me._ "

"Just to little old me!" The pair laughed.

Suddenly, the rich melody of a cello erupted from the hall outside. Otto and Tuddrussel jumped up to see Larry, bow in hand, pouring his heart into a solo of the song they were just playing. Tuddrussel was surprised at first, but quickly picked up the beat and backed Larry with the ukulele, strumming in perfect time with his partner. Their music complemented each other well, and Otto beamed with pride as the two finished spectacularly. He immediately ran to hug Larry.  
"You were listening!" He nuzzled into the robot.  
"Of course I was, silly." Larry returned the hug, one hand still remaining on his cello. He looked over to Tuddrussel. "And might I add, you two were fine musicians!"  
Buck smiled. "Hey, rust-butt, you weren't too bad yourself. But where'd you learn that song from?"  
Larry shyly accepted the compliment and Otto let him go. "I don't know if you've seen it, but there's this vintage comedy film--"  
"No way! The real old one with the farm guy, right? I love that movie! Me and my buddies at Basic watched that all the time."  
Otto felt a little left out. "What movie? I haven't seen the movie! Can I see?"  
Larry rubbed his chin and made a consideration. "Well, it has been a while since we've had a family movie night..." He looked to Tuddrussel for approval.  
"We ain't doin' anything else tonight, Larr."  
Larry shrugged. "Alright, after dinner tonight then."  
Otto hugged each of the officers again. "Sweet! I love movie night!"  
Larry leaned to whisper in Buck's ear. "I might need your help covering his eyes at some parts."

The boy looked back and forth to Larry with his cello and Buck with his ukulele. He sheepishly grinned. "One more time?"  
Tuddrussel smiled and started to strum. "Let's do it!"  
Larry grabbed his bow and hopped right into playing along. The three happily made music together, and Larry made sure to record the moment with his eye-cams for later playback. _We should do this more often_ , he thought.


End file.
